


beauty in a rose thorn

by waywardaussies



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, M/M, basically soonwoo are half bloods and everyone else are mortal, half blood, kpop, mortal!mingyu, son of apollo!soonyoung, son of hades!wonwoo, this is my first time writing anything for kpop please forgive me, verkwan soonhoon and jeongcheol are either implied or slightly mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 16:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17062724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waywardaussies/pseuds/waywardaussies
Summary: wonwoo is lost. he wanders the earth with a heavy heart, at least, thats what most children like him feel. the pain of never really knowing who helped in making you, that they were an entity too complex for the human world, it sucks. but what he knows for sure is that someone as bright and beautiful as mingyu would never love a dark soul like himself.or wonwoo is hades emo half-blood son and very shocked that mingyu isn't the son of aphrodite





	beauty in a rose thorn

**Author's Note:**

> this is my FIRST TIME writing anything within the kpop fandom. so forgive me please if there is any mistakes. but please don't hesitate to let me know!
> 
> also thanks to my bestie chelsea for hyping me up while i wrote this.
> 
> ps this was supposed to be for halloween but this semester was horrendous and i didnt have any time so enjoy some christmas-y themed greek myth au!

There’s a million and one things Wonwoo would rather be doing at this very moment. He’d rather be at home with a good book in his hands, either learning or reading some new information. He’d rather be playing games on his new Nintendo Switch and getting lost in some world that isn’t his. _**Hell!**_ He’d rather be talking to that dead lady that haunts the apartment room above him. At least she would have something interesting to say, not like what these drunk losers at this stupid party Soonyoung forced Wonwoo out to.

“Give it a chance, Won!” Soonyoung begged as they reached the door of some senior’s house. Wonwoo looked up at the ranch-style house, feeling the snowflakes tickle his nearly frozen cheeks. “You can’t just hang around half-bloods for the rest of your life. You should get out and experience normal things!”

“First off,” Wonwoo starts, “you’re the only half-blood I talk to…”

“My point exactly!” Soonyoung cuts in, and before Wonwoo could argue ( _or even give his second point_ ), Soonyoung is swinging the door open and the noise from inside is flooded out.

The house has a deep auburn glow to it, probably from lack of light besides a fake fireplace, and what feels like a million people talking and chatting. In reality, there were only 11 people (not counting Soonyoung and Wonwoo, who were immediately pulled into the living room where everyone else was), their chatting voices light and cheerful. Perfect for the season… Wonwoo wished he had an ounce of that.

“Soonyoung!” A guy cheered, he couldn’t have been older than either of them, maybe just a year? “I’m glad you made it!”

“Hey Seungcheol!” Soonyoung smiled. “And of course! When Mingyu mentioned your annual Christmas party in our Econ class, I just had to join!”

“You guys got real close in a short semester,” Seungcheol chuckled. “Anyway you’re welcomed to hang out whenever. The more the merrier!”

“Thanks!” Soonyoung gave his goofy smile at the other boy. “Oh! This is my buddy Wonwoo! I decided to drag him out of his dark hole he calls an apartment. Hope you don’t mind…” 

“Of course not!” The older then turns to face Wonwoo with a warm smile. “Nice to meet you Wonwoo, I’m Seungcheol.”

“You too.” Wonwoo mutters, eyes looking down. He felt intimidated by how friendly this perfect stranger seemed to be. 

“Well, make yourselves feel at home. Joshua made eggnog, which he says is the ‘American’ way…” He let out a short huff that could be characterized as a laugh, “Whatever, we let him do whatever he wants. Poor guy misses home a bit too much.”

“Cool! Thanks Cheol!” Soonyoung gave him one last smile before turning to Wonwoo. “Let’s try some!” And before Wonwoo knew it, he was being dragged into a kitchen, where there were more people standing and talking. It seemed that Soonyoung probably didn’t know these people, but that didn’t stop the son of sunshine himself (stupid Apollo) from giving everyone a smile and a greeting. It wasn’t long before Wonwoo knew all the strangers’ names.

Joshua, the American, was making another batch of eggnog. “You guys just went through it like nothing!” he cried out to another boy with very… distinct features ( _Vernon… Hansol? Wonwoo wasn’t sure. Too many names_ ).

“It’s good! You’re an excellent mixer, Shua!”

“Yeah yeah,” Joshua brushed him off. “Why don’t you make yourself useful, Vernon, and go get some cups.”

“Ey! Shua! You better not be bossing my boyfriend around!” A shorter, blonde boy shouted. Vernon smiled at that, a small blush coming to his cheeks. 

“Never Seungkwan!” Joshua faked a cheery voice, before rolling his eyes and looking at Soonyoung and Wonwoo, who were still just standing there, watching the whole ordeal. “They’re disgustingly cute. But Seungkwan would literally kill to make sure Vernon is happy.”

“That’s… sweet.” Soonyoung hesitates. 

Vernon comes back with the cups, begrudgingly giving them to Joshua. Wonwoo just stands there quietly, watching Joshua make another batch of eggnog, and part of him wanted to try it since there seemed to be a hype around it. Vernon turned to Soonyoung and Wonwoo and smiled. “I forgot to introduce myself cause Joshua was being a bossy butt.”

“I’m not a bossy butt!”

“I’m Vernon.” He ignored the other. Soonyoung smiled and stated his name, and when Wonwoo went to, his mouth said another statement.

“You look weird.”

Soonyoung’s eyes widened, smacking his friends arm. “Won! You don’t just say something like that!” But Vernon was laughing, he didn’t seem upset or angry ( _hopefully not…_ ).

“Nah, it’s ok. I get it a lot.” He said to Soonyoung, then looking at Wonwoo with a small smile. “I’m actually half Korean, half White. Hence why I don’t look ‘Korean enough’.” He used air quotes for the last part. But Wonwoo was hung up on the first part.

_He’s like a half-blood. He’s like us… Only… more normal._

“I’m sorry about Wonwoo, he has no filter when he’s around new people.” Soonyoung apologizes.

“No worries! But I would like to think I’m more culturally Korean since I’ve been living here most of my life.”

Before Wonwoo could embarrass himself any more, he turned on his heels and exited the kitchen without another word. He was walking down a dark hallway into a room he had no idea what it was. He knew he should have stayed home. Before he could go looking for an exit, his body was forcefully collided with what felt like a wall. Only… Walls don’t go ‘oof!’

“Shit, you ok?” A voice in the dark asked. “It’s too dark here I should have been paying attention more. I’m sorry!” The voice, a male’s voice, said frantically. Wonwoo couldn’t see anything but he felt warmth, and that scared him for some strange reason.

“Uh-It’s ok. I was just trying to…” _Escape._

“I understand,” the voice said, and it sounded like he was smiling, but Wonwoo didn’t have night vision ( _now that would be a useful Hade’s power_ ). “I could hear Seungkwan from the bathroom. He’s a handful sometimes. But he really is a good guy.”

“Uh… Yeah.” Wonwoo didn’t know what else to say, so he decided maybe just going back to the crowded living room was his best option. 

As he turned to go back to where he came from, he felt the stranger following him. Obviously he is! He needs to get out of this dark hallway too. Once the both of them reached the beginning of the hallway, Wonwoo turned to face the person who was behind him the whole time, seeing the face behind the voice.

Wonwoo felt himself grow ice cold.

The guy was well over 6 foot, hair black as midnight, coming down to cover a bit of his eyes, which were stunning. They were perfectly almond shaped, rounder than Wonwoo’s, which didn’t say much since Wonwoo’s eyes were basically two thin slits. The chest Wonwoo bumped into moments ago looked so toned and perfect under the white tee-shirt he was wearing. Wonwoo looked down, noticing the other was wearing ripped jeans and--fuck his thighs look heavenly. He heard a chuckle, quickly looking up to see the gorgeous man smile, a small sharp tooth peaking out.

“You’re not that bad looking yourself.” He winked at Wonwoo, and the latter knew for fuck-sure he was a blushing mess. But just as he was about to comment something witty, or off-handed, a high-pitch screech rang through Wonwoo’s ears… 

“Mingyu!!” Soonyoung cheered, running over to give the godly person in front of Wonwoo a “bro-hug”. Sexy face, also known as Mingyu, smiled wide, patting Soonyoung on his back before pulling away.

“Soonyoung! What’s up? I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t think you’d actually come!” Wonwoo just… stared. This was the Mingyu in Soonyoung’s class? This was the Mingyu that Soonyoung told Wonwoo about? About how he was the clumsiest person alive? About how his height was a curse in disguise? Wonwoo grew pale.

“Of course! I can’t pass up an opportunity to party!” Soonyoung replied. For a moment, Wonwoo felt invisible being near these classmates. It was short lived, however, because Soonyoung turns to Wonwoo and nudges him closer to Mingyu. “This is Wonwoo! He’s my childhood buddy I told you about!”

“So you’re Wonwoo,” Mingyu commented, voice poised and elegant. Wonwoo couldn’t read the taller’s face, emotions not jumping out to make themselves known to the quiet boy. He felt nauseous. 

Wonwoo stayed quiet, eyes finding the floor more interesting than the stunning face in front of him. Soonyoung let out a loud cackle. “This ain’t his normal scene. I had to practically force him out of the apartment!”

“Well,” Mingyu said softly, eyes making their way to Wonwoo’s, holding his gaze on the shorter. Wonwoo made the mistake of looking at said gaze. “I’m glad you came.” That smile. **Fuck that smile.**

With that, Mingyu walked out of the hallway entrance and towards the living room, sitting on the couch with a skinny, tall boy with really stylish glasses on. The two seemed to laugh at something the short blonde (Seungkwan) was doing. Wonwoo was still, watching the whole scene in front of him. It wasn’t until he felt a shove by his shoulder that he looked to see the culprit; Soonyoung’s mischievous smile causing Wonwoo’s stomach to drop.

“Mingyu’s a looker, ain’t he?”

“Uh-yeah… I guess so.” Wonwoo felt his voice shake. Shit.

“He seemed into you, at least, from what I’ve told him. I hyped you up.” Soonyoung stated matter-of-factly. 

“Why?”

“Cause you deserve someone who isn’t judgmental. Mingyu is the kindest guy in our class. He is an actual puppy!” Soonyoung motioned with his hand over at the boy in question, who was smiling so wide and laughing with glee. He was so cute with his hair, now slightly ruffled in front of his face, and cheeks pink from the heat of the fire next to him. His skin was a gorgeous golden brown; Wonwoo was slightly envious, looking down at his slightly paler complexion (he still had some ethnic coloring from his mother’s South Korean blood, but because of Hades being a god of darkness and death, some of it faded over time).

“I don’t know…” Wonwoo shook his head. Though unsure, there was one thing he knew for certain. Someone as beautiful and bright as Mingyu would never want anything to do with a dark soul like himself. 

“Come on!” Soonyoung whined. “I’ll even use some of my abilities to help you win him over.” Soonyoung waggled his eyebrows. “But I don’t think you’ll need any of them, seeing as Mingyu has been staring at you for the last two minutes.”

Wonwoo gave Soonyoung a confused look, then turned his focus to Mingyu, who was, in fact, looking right at him with a small smile. Just as their eyes met, Mingyu jumped slightly and turned back to face his friend. Wonwoo was in shock, his mouth slightly agape watching as the color on Mingyu’s cheeks grew more pink by the minute, but his eyes looking away from Wonwoo at this point. Soonyoung’s giggle is what broke Wonwoo out of his slight haze.

“Can you believe he’s actually mortal? Like, not even Aphrodite’s children are that beautiful!” Soonyoung spoke, but just that simple fact made Wonwoo queasy. 

_He’s mortal._

_He’d be disgusted by someone like me._

“I have to go…” Wonwoo turned on his heels and went down the same dark hallway as before, only this time there was no wide chested gorgeous man to block his walking. He made it to the end of the hallway, which led to a bedroom. The bed was made neatly to Wonwoo’s left, the furniture pressed against the corner between two walls. As he looked forward, he saw a desk filled with textbooks and papers and a laptop, open but the screen turned off. The room was quite minimalistic, something that Wonwoo wasn’t used to. His room was very cluttered with books, posters, collectable figurines, and other knick-knacks that were stupid and unnecessary (Soonyoung’s words, not his). 

He didn’t know how long he was just standing in the dark room, looking at things that weren’t his. It felt like seconds, but when he heard a voice call out behind him, it snapped him into reality and he finds that he was standing in this spot for nearly 10 minutes.

“Let me guess,” The voice spoke, now identifiable as Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome, “Soonyoung said something stupid and you had to leave before it melted your brain.”

“Something like that.” Wonwoo answered, turning to face the other boy. He could see Mingyu leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, with a wicked looking smile on his face. Wonwoo couldn’t see much detail in the dim light, but he definitely could see just how bright white Mingyu’s teeth were. 

“He’s a funny guy. Met him this semester and we just clicked.” Mingyu pushed off the doorframe, making his way over to the still body standing in the middle of the room. “How do you guys know each other?”

_We met each other at Half Blood Camp, after getting claimed by our biological godly parents at the benches. No one wanted to come near me after seeing the black mist appear above my head, but Soonyoung was…. kind. He was different to say the least. He didn’t judge me…_

“Family friends.” Wonwoo ended up actually saying, knowing full well that speaking the truth in this situation would harm him in the long run.

“That nice!” Mingyu said with a bright smile. His smile… Wonwoo was starting to hate that smile.

“Yeah, we know each other like the back of our hands. It’s sad to say but he’s really my only friend.” _Ok Jeon what the fuck? You don’t just admit that to the beautiful human!_

“Well why aren’t you out there with him then?” The other asked, head tilted in question.

Wonwoo felt his chest tighten at that question. He didn’t know why persay, he just knew he had to get out of the room before Soonyoung did something stupid.

Or maybe it was Wonwoo that would do something stupid…

“He’s too busy flirting with the short angry one. And I’m not much of a good wingman for him so I wouldn’t be much use.” Wonwoo shrugged. It was true that Soonyoung did nothing but talk about the short guy, saying about how he was so talented and beautiful and always picked on him.

“Then why do you like him?” Wonwoo asked one night after Soonyoung came back from Calc class.

“Cause he’s so tiny!!!!” Soonyoung replied, and to that, Wonwoo rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, Jihoon is a ball of fury when he wants to be. But he really is a softie once you get on his good side.” Mingyu said. “And, between you and me,” He leaned closer to Wonwoo, the hairs on the older’s back stood straight up. “Jihoon has been talking about Soonyoung for weeks now, but he’s too shy to make the first move.” His voice was no higher than a whisper, and Wonwoo’s mind began to blank

“Oh how lovely!!” A voice called from the doorway. Wonwoo turned to see a man, about a few years older than him, face pale and ghostly. He had a big, buffy jacket on with tight jeans and high snow boots. “What a hunk!” The man’s voice was very condescending and Wonwoo wasn’t having any of it tonight.

“Excuse me?” Wonwoo asked. “Who do you think you are?”

“Uh…” Mingyu leaned back to look at Wonwoo’s face with his brows knitted in confusion. “I’m sorry?”

Wonwoo went to explain that the man standing over there was being very rude, when Wonwoo finally got a good look at said man, and watched as his eyes went black.

_Shit._

“Oh! Nothing sorry! I’ve got to go!” Wonwoo pushed passed Mingyu and ran out the door, his body phasing through the ghost as he went down the hallway. Everyone was sitting in the living room watching some cheesy holiday movie when Wonwoo came to Soonyoung and pulled him out of his seat. He was snuggled up next to the short tempered one (Jihoon… Wonwoo really needs to learn names) and both seemed very annoyed with Wonwoo’s abruptness. 

“Won what the fu-”

“We have to go.” Was all Wonwoo said before Soonyoung got the nonverbal hint in his best friend’s eyes. Soonyoung has known the other long enough to know that when Wonwoo sees some spooky shit, it usually means more is to come. 

“What?! Come on!” An angelic faced man complained. “We were just getting to the part where she needs to decide on whether to sell the grandma’s house or not!”

“I’m sorry Jeonghan,” Soonyoung said with a sad smile. “But Won just realized that he needs to…”

“I have to give in a resume for this winter job I’m trying for, and Soonyoung is the only one that has a working computer between the two of us.” Wonwoo spoke fast.

“Aw,” Seungcheol said sadly. “Well I hope all goes good! It was nice meeting you Wonwoo.” He said from his position on the couch, which was wrapped warmly around the angelic faced man.

“Thank you for having us,” Wonwoo said, but before he could escape, he heard laughter. Laughter that sounded like shrill screeching and he had to cover his ears. Soonyoung couldn’t hear it, but he knew… Wonwoo looked up and where he once saw the faces of sweet people watching a movie, he now saw faces stretched and disfigured and coated in gore. He let out a small gasp, then turned to leave the house with Soonyoung close behind.

They got out, Wonwoo’s head was banging and he felt weak. Why him? Why did he have to get the short end of the stick all the time? Soonyoung held onto Wonwoo’s waist tightly to make sure his friend didn’t collapse from overstimulation from the nasty ghouls. They were close to the bus stop, when Wonwoo heard someone call out to him. He didn’t know if it was real or not, too suspicious of his environment. He relied on Soonyoung’s perspective heavily, making sure what he heard or saw was really set in the mortal reality.

The voice sounded louder, and Soonyoung reacted, so Wonwoo has to believe that it was real, right?

“Wait! Wait up!” Soonyoung tapped Wonwoo’s shoulder, signaling him that it was ok and what he was hearing ( _at least the calling out of someone_ ) wasn’t just in his mind.

Wonwoo turned to see Mingyu running towards them, hair waving back from the forward motion and wind. When he reached the pair, he was slightly out of breath and had to compose himself before speaking again. 

“What happened? Why did you leave?” He asked once he was able to breathe.

“I-uh…” 

“Not the bullshit excuse you gave the others. Why did you really leave?” Mingyu sounded harsh, but eyes were soft and sad, expecting to hear something negative.

“He wasn’t feeling too well,” Soonyoung said. “He gets really bad migraines sometimes. We just--”

“I didn’t want to worry anyone.” Wonwoo spoke quietly. 

“Well…” Mingyu shifted between his feet, eyes looking down and watching the pavement as if something was going to happen to the solid and stationary block. “I was… uh--I thought we were getting somewhere back there… I would have liked to talk to you more…”

“You what?” Wonwoo asked dumbly, his eyes wide and his mind definitely forcing him to believe the world was playing tricks on him. He even turned to Soonyoung to make sure this was real, and the other nodded with a sly smile.

“I mean… You’re really cute and I wanted to talk to you more and maybe get to know you more and maybe even ask you out. But you just ran away before I could do any of that so I’m worried. Did I do something wrong?”

Soonyoung laughed and nudged Wonwoo, who was currently standing with his mouth wide open in shock. “You should answer the poor boy, Won. He looks like a lost puppy!”

“You think I’m cute?... Me? Jeon Wonwoo? Cute?” How could anyone… Wonwoo’s entire being was dark and off-puting. No one wanted to be near him. He was the son of Death himself!

“Yeah… Unless… you’re not interested, then forget everything I said.” Mingyu’s cheeks were growing red, just like they did when Wonwoo caught him staring at him on the couch. Those red cheeks… there was something about those red cheeks that made Wonwoo’s heart do flips. 

“He’s interested, trust me!”

“Soonyoung!!” 

Wonwoo was ignored. “He’s just an emo little shit. But don’t worry!”

Mingyu laughed (gods that was a nice laugh). “If that’s the case, maybe we can get something to eat in the future…”

“I-...” Wonwoo wanted to say yes cause something about Mingyu made his heart feel like it needed to leave the comfort of his own chest and run a marathon on its own. But, he couldn’t put Mingyu through his personal shit. “I think you’re cute too… But you won’t think I’m that great if you know me.”

“Then let me get to know you.” Mingyu gave a sweet smile. THAT SMILE.

Wonwoo looked over at Soonyoung, who gave him a big, cheesy smile. He looked back at Mingyu and saw just how beautiful he was. His eyes seemed to shine under the streetlamps that flickered above them. His golden skin, which if Wonwoo didn’t know any better would say he was kissed by the sun god himself. Mingyu pushed his hands deeper into his own pockets, balancing on the back of his heels as he waited for Wonwoo to answer him. Wonwoo wanted to be positive, but nothing in his life was outstandingly positive. He couldn’t get his hopes up…

“Will you believe me if I said I’m not who you think I am?”

Mingyu stayed quiet for a moment, registering Wonwoo’s words. But soon, he took a step forward (Soonyoung stepped back, he knew his place) and came close to Wonwoo’s face. The older was able to see every perfection on the other’s face, even count the number of beautiful lashes in his eyes. Wonwoo froze in his spot, a spark flowing down his spine.

“Even if you were some dark lord out to destroy mankind, I would still like the chance to get to know someone as cute and interesting as you.”

Soonyoung choked on his own spit behind the pair, causing the both of them to turn to look at the blonde. “Sorry just… _Irony_.”

Mingyu tilted his head in confusion, but Wonwoo smiled softly. He turned back to face Mingyu, one eyebrow cocked up in coyness, as he asked:

“So, how about that date?”


End file.
